Max speed must be the most pointless statistic in cycling. Especially when the device recording it is suspect.I've done this same descent and I'm failing to see the part where he hits crazy speed.I think I did the descent reasonably fast with a 53-11T and didn't have a tailwind nor a rider or vehicle to draft. It wasn't anything special and I got a little lost at one point. Because of this thread I went back to check my speed and turns out it was the 14th fastest descent out of 1988 riders on Strava - I guess I wasn't too lazy recovering from the climb. My max was a pedestrian 72.7 kph. http://vimeo.com/24482370So yes I would ride as fast as possible down Ventoux on a 5.2kg bike But that's nowhere near 131kph because that kind of speed is not possible. Ventoux isn't very technical, but it isn't a very fast descent either. I'd actually say that it's rather bland and a bit boring compared with some other big mountain descents.

I visited Ventoux last summer and descended it in 20 minutes and 20 seconds - average was 38mph, max was 53mph. I really don't believe this guy hit 80mph. I did it on a 5.5kg bike and it's worth noting I only weigh 58kg; I spent most of the time sat on the top tube in the 'roast chicken position'.

I was lucky in that it was very quiet (early in the morning) - only had to overtake one car on the way down. When it's busy no way can you get down there quickly as you often have to wait behind cars.

I had another look at this guys ride. After seeing his upright commuter bike with standard gearing.

If you check the ride on Strava, the 131kph speed is indeed a GPS error. It was recorded somewhere in the woods... several hundred meters off the road. His average on the descent was 51kph, mine was 50kph so he got me by about 33 seconds on a half-hour descent.However, on the climb he was 40 minutes slower...

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